Learning.

Just when you think things are falling into place, something happens.  Such is life.You can either get upset or learn from what happened.  It is not easy being a parent but we are learning that we need to follow through with discipline and nip things in the butt now rather than later when they are bigger.  Trying to change habits or a way someone has been thinking for 14 years does not happen over night.  We have to keep reminding ourselves to be patient.  That is probably the hardest part. 

Although Dima's English has come along so well in 6 months, he is still generalizes words.  He may say something that sounds rude, but that is the only way he knows how the explain it.  One goal this summer is to work on reading and getting caught up in Algebra so he is ready for Algebra II next year.  He made the Honor Roll again! He was so proud of his certificate that he put it up on the refrigerator as soon as he saw it!

We also have been working harder to ask a lot of questions when we see him getting upset.  He has gotten better at talking to us and explaining why he is upset.  That has made a huge difference.  We don't have less issues, but we now can figure out what is wrong within minutes rather than the whole day!  The more he can talk and explain himself makes us wonder why we didn't have more issues in the beginning because he LOVES to ask MANY questions!!! Again, we try to be patient and help answer his questions.  This can be challenging at times, but we try our best to explain things so he can understand them.  He asks some really interesting questions and it makes us learn as well.

This summer Dima is going to the YMCA Teen Camp and doing some work for our friend that has a landscaping business.  So far, Dima really likes the camp.  They do such a great job here.  The counselors and kids are so nice to Dima.  Dima is also very excited to work for money! He is saving up money to buy a "professional" bike like Dusty and I.  At first he said he didn't want one, but after riding for hours and hours, he now wants to save up money to get one.  Dusty started riding with him a few weeks ago so he could get used to riding on roads with traffic.  He was so used to riding all over the place in parking lots so it took a little bit for him to get used to riding in a straight line. 

One night we all rode our bikes to get ice cream.  It was so much fun riding together as a family! Dima is so funny when he comes to a stop sign, he can stop on a dime! Dusty almost ran into him a few times because he stops so quickly! He does a good job looking left and right and 6 times for cars.  We made it to our destination and back with no problems!  The next day Dima had his first bike crash.  We weren't there to witness it, but Dima just shrugged off his skinned knee like it was nothing. 

Last night Dima said he was going to go with me on my bike ride.  I am training for triathlons and had to do a hill repeat workout.  I reluctantly agreed as I had to ride on a hilly and busy road to get to where I was going to do my hill repeats.  After warning him, he still wanted to go.  While I did my hill repeats, he rode back and forth on the flatter part of the road.  We had to ride up some pretty steep hills to get back home, but he did a great job! He was so excited to hear that we road over 13 miles!!

Thanks for reading!
Tina